Global Health Policy Center Monthly Newsletter: November 2017

Welcome to the November 2017 newsletter from the Global Health Policy Center (GHPC) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)! We invite you to catch up on our latest content.

Publications:

From AIDS to Zika: Brazilian Approaches to Protecting Health in Critical Contexts: In May 2017, Katherine Bliss, Senior Associate (Non-Resident), and Chris Millard, Associate Fellow, visited Brazil to better understand the country’s approaches toward issues of global health security. These efforts include preventing and responding to infectious disease outbreaks, bolstering pandemic preparedness capacities in the region, strengthening Brazil’s national disease surveillance network, scientific and technical collaboration, and health preparations in advance of mass gatherings. Based on their conversations in Brazil and in the United States, the team concluded that the history of U.S.-Brazil engagement on health, as well as Brazil’s recent experiences addressing the 2015–2016 Zika outbreak and preparing for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, offer important lessons for the U.S. government to consider, both as it rethinks its relationships on health with other middle-income countries and as it advances its health security agenda in the years to come.

Events:

History and Future of the Global HIV Response: On October 16, the GHPC hosted Dr. Michael Merson, Duke University Wolfgang Joklik Professor of Global Health, and Dr. Stephen Inrig, Mount Saint Mary’s University Associate Professor, for a discussion of their new book, “The AIDS Pandemic: Searching for a Global Response.” In May 1990, Dr. Merson was appointed as Director of the WHO’s Global Programme on AIDS (GPA), which was responsible for mobilizing and coordinating the global response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The wide-ranging conversation, which was moderated by Deputy Director and Senior Fellow Sara M. Allinder, covered lessons learned from the early days of generating a global response to AIDS in the mid-1980s, establishing and eventually disbanding the GPA, and forming UNAIDS. It also dealt with the importance of health systems, as well as messaging and other ways to sustain political will and financing for HIV/AIDS. A video recording of the conversation is available here.

Podcast Episodes:

Reflections from Global Health Sage Michael Merson: Dr. Michael Merson has had a long and distinguished career in public health, particularly in enteric, respiratory, and infectious diseases. He has worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), WHO, Yale University, and is the founding director of the Duke University Global Health Institute. As leader of the GPA at WHO, he was at the forefront of the transition from the field of “international health” to “global health”. In this episode, which was hosted by Sara, Dr. Merson reflects on his career in global health, the evolving role of the WHO over time, and the main recommendations proposed in May 2017 by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s committee on global health and the future of the United States.

HCV Screening Program in Alabama Reveals Growing Epidemic Among Young Persons Who Inject Drugs: Dr. James W. Galbraith joined the Emergency Medicine faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in 2008. In 2011, Dr. Galbraith led the implementation of emergency department (ED) non-targeted, opt-out HIV screening. In the first five years, this HIV screening program has screened over 100,000 individuals and identified over 500 HIV infections, including a significant number of acute HIV infections. Leveraging the infrastructure developed for systematic HIV screening, Dr. Galbraith initiated targeted hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening and linkage to care in the UAB-ED in 2013. In this episode, which I hosted, we asked him to discuss the outcomes of his HCV screening program, which include identifying over 3,500 previously unrecognized HCV infections (11.5 percent infection prevalence) among previously unaware “baby boomers." The study also found a 14 percent infection prevalence among white individuals born after 1965. This ED-based HCV testing program has prioritized raising HCV awareness about a growing epidemic of HCV infection among young persons who inject drugs (PWID) and improving access to a cure. Dr. Galbraith is currently collaborating with state and national stakeholders to implement local harm-reduction interventions – including syringe service programs ­ – aimed at averting an outbreak of HIV infection among PWID.

Fighting Opioid and Related HIV and Hep C Outbreaks in Kentucky: In this episode, which I hosted, Dr. Anne Yaffe reflects on the opioid epidemic and her experience serving as a CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer stationed at the Kentucky Department for Public Health. She also discusses the co-occurring HIV and HCV epidemics. Dr. Yaffe is currently on faculty at Emory University and Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, and serves as emergency medicine liaison for the Serious Communicable Diseases Unit at Emory University Hospital.

The New Barbarianism – A CSIS Original Documentary Film: Healthcare and humanitarian workers are increasingly in the crosshairs as hospitals and aid centers have become part of the battlefield in today’s wars. So far, there has been little to stop the profound surge of violence seen across several open-ended conflicts which has claimed thousands of lives, destroyed health systems, triggered mass displacement and state collapse, and exposed the crisis facing the norms of international humanitarian law contained in the Geneva Conventions. The New Barbarianism is a CSIS GHPC original feature documentary (58 minutes) that examines the crisis, its causes, the limited international response and possible ways forward through over 30 on-camera interviews and original footage obtained from inside Syria, Yemen, and Afghanistan. In this post-production episode, which I hosted, Justin Kenny, Paul Franz, and I discuss the process of developing the documentary. Justin Kenny is the Owner of Small Footprint Films, a news and documentary production company. He is an occasional contributor to the PBS NewsHour. From 2012-2015, he was the NewsHour's Foreign Editor. Paul Franz is Andreas C. Dracopoulos Chair in Creativity and Innovation at CSIS. He is a former Pulitzer Center Fellow and TIME Video Journalist. The full documentary can be viewed at: https://www.csis.org/features/new-barbarianism.

The GHPC will be hosting several screenings of The New Barbarianism in the coming months. Current screenings are listed below. More information regarding registration and format of the individual sessions will follow.

The Role of the Private Sector in Advancing Global Health: Jeff Sturchio is President and CEO of Rabin Martin, a strategic management firm based in New York City. Jeff previously served as Vice President of Corporate Responsibility at Merck & Co., Inc., and President of The Merck Company Foundation, where he was responsible for major public-private partnerships, including the Mectizan Donation Program and the African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnerships in Botswana. He has also served as Chairman of the Corporate Council on Africa and President and CEO of the Global Health Council. In this episode, which I hosted, we asked him to reflect on his experience at Merck, the linkages between health and wealth, and the role of the private sector in advancing global health.

The Role of the Private Sector in Advancing Global HIV Goals: Gregg Alton is Executive Vice President of Corporate and Medical Affairs at Gilead Sciences, Inc. In this episode, which I hosted, we asked him to share his reflections on Gilead’s role in bringing antiretroviral therapies to low-income countries and the importance of U.S. leadership.

The podcast series is available here and on itunes. Please subscribe using the podcast app.

Upcoming Events:

On Tuesday, November 7, CSIS will host its annual Global Security Forum—a day-long event comprised of multiple panel discussions exploring a range of challenges facing the United States and global security. As part of Global Security Forum 2017, the GHPC is hosting a panel discussion entitled “Hurtling Toward a Genomic 9/11?” The event will take place from 9:30-10:45 am in the second floor conference room, room “C,” at CSIS. The conversation will focus on gene editing and other forms of rapidly evolving synthetic biology. It will explore how these developments could create complex—and even highly ambiguous—new threats and opportunities that could reshape U.S. foreign policy priorities and alter U.S. security calculations. The panel will feature Dr. Hillary Carter, Director for Countering Biological Threats at the National Security Council, Dr. David Relman, Co-Director of the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, and myself as moderator.

We will also be screening our documentary, The New Barbarianism, from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm in the second floor conference center.

The event page for our session and live webcast can be found here. For more information on Global Security Forum 2017 or to register for the event or documentary screening, please click here.